


Odd But Welcome

by orphan_account



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: First Kiss, Getting Together, M/M, Oneshot, snettigrew week, this is a joke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-25 17:01:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30092289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: DISCLAIMER: THIS. IS. A. JOKE. THIS IS FOR SNETTIGREW WEEK ON TIKTOK, I DON’T ACTUALLY SHIP THIS!!But like please don’t come at me, yes, I actually tried okay :(~~~~~Peter gets fed up of being treated like he’s not there, so he switches to the dark side and offers to help Snape for a little bit. He really did think he’d regret it, maybe even hate it, but what if he doesn’t?
Relationships: Peter Pettigrew/Severus Snape
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	Odd But Welcome

Peter was sick of it, the constant ‘Pete won’t mind, will you, Pete?’ and ‘Just send Pete, he’s the most, er— expendable.’ He was sick of being treated like “the extra marauder”. The one that never planned the pranks but always got in trouble for them, the one that was called a coward for not wanting to risk his school career to save his friends’ asses. It was tiring, to be honest, and a little bruising. 

It may not have been smart, what he did, but he had his reasons. Scratch that, it definitely wasn’t smart, approaching Severus Snape (the usual target of the Marauders’ pranks) after potions and telling him:

“I want to help you.”

“What?” Snape looked taken aback, a little abrasive, and began to start walking away. Peter grabbed his arm, but Snape pulled away and shot him an icy glare. 

“I mean it, I want to help you. Just let me explain.” He asked, and Severus stopped walking. He turned, one eyebrow cocked, to look at Peter. 

“Explain, then, Pettigrew. I haven’t got all day.” He snapped, still glaring, Peter felt his stomach clench. Maybe this isn’t such a bright idea, he thought, I’ve never been the one with the brains, have I? “Thought so. Now leave me alone.”

“No, wait. Sorry, I— I can tell you about the pranks. I can get you information so you know what to expect. James tells me everything about his pranks, so you can prepare for them beforehand.” Snape froze, both of his eyebrows were raised now. 

“What’s in it for you?” He asked, rightfully skeptical. “They’ve put you up to this haven’t th—”

“They treat me like I don’t exist, Sniv— Severus. Surely you’ve seen that?” Snape shrugged, though he seemed a little abashed. “I just want to have something that they don’t. I want to have something against them.”

They made eye contact, little did Peter know that this very eye contact would start his thrill for being a traitor, his thirst to hurt the people that he was supposed to love and trust. That was all it took, just that knowing eye contact, and the deal was set. 

“Oi! Wormy! What are you doing talking to Snivelly?” James hollered from the other end of the hall, Peter blanched. 

“Er— just telling him how much of a greasy git he is!” He mouthed a small, sorry, before pulling his wand out of his robes. “Volatilis Lutum, you slimy bastard.” He said loudly, feeling a pang of guilt and thrill as bats flew out from Snape’s nose and he fell to the floor. 

Peter sauntered over to his friends, trying not to look too suspicious, and beamed as he received several pats on the back. 

“We were worried, Pete. Thought you’d gone to the dark side.” Sirius laughed and ruffled his hair. He laughed uneasily and walked a little slower, just so that he could look back to see if Snape was okay. Of course, they weren’t friends by any means, but he couldn’t help but feel bad as raucous laughter echoed around the hallway. 

“Me? Dark side? C’mon, Pads, what do you take me for?” They all chuckled at that and walked to the common room in silence. Much to Peter’s delight and odd satisfaction, they were already discussing their newest prank. 

…

Peter waited until after everyone had gone to sleep—which was a challenge, as Remus clocked out at two in the morning—to change into rat form and sneak out. He knew the way to the Slytherin common room well enough, but the castle was strange when he was less than ten centimeters tall. Everything seemed thrown off. He eventually got there, though, and slipped in through a small crack in the wall. It was a tight fit, but, as luck would have it, it led right to Snape’s dormitory. 

He changed out of rat form and stood anxiously over Snape’s bed for a couple seconds before waking him, he woke with a start and looked bloody furious, Peter began to rethink every decision he had every made. Ever. 

“What do you want?” Peter opened his mouth to speak, but Snape held up a hand and silenced him. “No. Not here. Come on.” He snapped, and led Peter through a slim, dark hallway to the common room. It was deserted, thank god. “Now. What do you want?”

“Well, they’re planning a prank, and I thought I’d—”

“Ah, so you’re still following through with that? Even after today in the hall?” Peter gulped. 

“Oh, right. Er— sorry. About that.” He mumbled, and looked up at Snape for some sort of hint that he should keep talking, but he just received the same icy glare. 

“Are you? Seemed to come pretty easily, then. Greasy git, slimy bastard, do you really think I need your help after all that?” Snape looked more hurt than anything else. It was a bit disconcerting. 

“I really am sorry, I just thought it would be better, you know, for the prank thing if I wasn’t suspicious. That was the only way I could think of in the moment.” He explained. “Sorry.”

“So I suppose you want me to forgive you? I suppose you want to be friends?” He asked, his look was mocking. 

“The first one, yeah. I’d like the second one. It might make — this — a bit easier.”

“It might.” Snape agreed. “But it won’t happen.”

“Right.”

“So tell me about the prank, quick.” He demanded, Peter nodded and straightened his posture, almost out of force of habit from being talked to in such a stern way. It wasn’t a nice feeling, it was almost like he was talking to a teacher. 

“They’re lacing your cauldron tomorrow. In potions. They’re sneaking in early and putting this powder, when it makes contact with any liquid it’ll explode in your face. Remus has a whole vial of it, the stuff is foul.” Peter explained quickly. 

“Right, thanks. So what do I do?” He asked, and Peter shrugged—much to Snape’s annoyance. “Well what good are you, then?”

“Do you want to know about the bloody pranks or not? Telling you what do with them wasn’t in the agreement.” Peter retorted, suddenly defensive. 

“Fine. Fine, whatever.” He paused, the air hung thick and awkward between them. “Thank you.”

“Mhm, no problem.” 

“How did you get in here, anyway?” Peter grinned, like he thought Snape would never ask. 

“Lemme show you something. Only James, Sirius and Remus know, so you can’t tell anyone, alright?” Snape nodded quickly, he looked immensely interested, Peter stood up from the couch and cracked his knuckles, before effortlessly turning into a rat. Snape let out a small, shrieking sound, and covered his mouth quickly. 

“You— you’re a— an Animagus?” Peter transformed back with no trouble and nodded, beaming. “But that’s so difficult! How did you manage that?”

Peter shrugged, suddenly bashful. Snape looked awestruck, and it was almost like they were friends. 

Almost. 

Because the moment left them as soon as it arrived, and the reality of the situation blanketed their friendliness. Snape’s scowl returned within a second. 

“That’s illegal, you know. There’s no way you’re registered. I could turn you in to Dumbledore right now, you’d be expelled… or something.”

“Right, and get your arse pranked off? I don’t think so. I’d start helping out with planning the pranks, target you make them worse for you.” Peter wasn’t sure where his sudden burst of confidence had come from, but he didn’t really care, because at least his voice wasn’t shaking. “You wouldn’t dare turn me in.”

“Is that a threat, Pettigrew?” Peter’s face grew hot with embarrassment and some other unidentifiable feeling. He nodded slowly. 

“Sure. Why not.”

Snape rose suddenly from the couch, frowning, and turned on his heel. 

“Right, then. Thanks for the heads up.” He said and disappeared down the dark corridor, and back into his dormitory. Peter turned into Wormtail yet again and scurried out of the Slytherin common room through another crack in the wall. He felt oddly thrilled by the prospect of helping Snape get one up on the marauders, because he had something they didn’t. He had a secret for a change, he was different, he wasn’t just the tagalong friend that everyone pitied. He existed. 

…

The next day he felt a subtle swelling of pride when Snape’s cauldron didn’t explode in his face and stink up the entire classroom. He knew it was all his doing, and he was proud of that fact. It was hilarious. He watched with silent glee as James, Remus and Sirius exchanged bewildered, confused looks and kept checking the mostly empty vial in Remus’s pocket to make sure they’d gotten it right. It was especially rewarding when Snape turned and glanced at him when no one was looking and shot him a subtle smirk that nobody saw but him. Nobody saw it but him. What a thrilling thought, to be a part of something so secret. He sat through the rest of potions with an odd feeling in his chest and a self-satisfied smile on his face. 

“What’s got you all happy?” Remus asked as they were walking out, James and Sirius turned around, caught a glimpse of his small grin and asked the same thing. 

“Oh, nothing, I just did quite well on the potions assignment today.”

“No, Wormy, you didn’t. Your potion was supposed to be bubblegum pink, not piss yellow.” Sirius laughed, earning himself a smack from James. 

“Aye, let the man have his fun. We’re proud of you, Pete.” He said, patting Peter on the back like he had the previous day when Peter Bat-Bogey Hexed Snape (he felt a twinge of guilt upon remembering this), and the three of them walked ahead of Peter, discussing ways to make sure that their next prank on Severus worked. 

…

This continued for weeks in the same cycle. Snape and Peter met every night in the Slytherin common room (sometimes even when there was no prank to be discussed, which was odd but welcome) and talked. No matter what had happened that day Snape could always count on a visit from Peter that night, it was safe, comforting in a way. They became secret friends, only ever talking at night, but Peter still looked forward to the small, wordless smiles he’d get in the hall when no one was looking. It was still nice to know that when one of the Marauders’ pranks went wrong, they were both thinking the same smug thoughts. There was this one time when Snape was meant to get up and start waxing poetic about how he loved Muggle-Borns (Lily’s idea, actually, she thought if they weren’t going to stop pranking Snape they might as well do good with it) when asked to answer a question in class, and Peter had to bite the side of his hand to stifle laughter when he answered the question normally. No declarations of love for Muggle-Borns were involved. 

It was going well, until things began to get a little weird. Weird meaning out of character. Especially for Snape. 

Severus would lengthen the hours they spent in the common room at night, he would sometimes dismiss the subject of pranking entirely and just talk. About anything and everything. Like most other things that came with their friendship, this change was odd but welcome. Peter would often catch Snape looking at him, even when it wasn’t anything to do with a failed prank, and it made him grow red in the face. One could only imagine that he was shocked out of his wits when Snape high-fived him one day. 

He wasn’t horrible to be around, he just put up a haughty and poised exterior to everyone else. Peter didn’t know why, but he did know that he was Severus’s only real friend. It was kind of cool. 

“You know, Pettigrew, I think you’re the only person I’m like this around.” He’d said one night, and that was when Peter had deemed it official. He’d fallen hard. First for the silent smirks that spoke a thousand silent words, next for the giddy stares across the Great Hall whenever they caught each other’s eye, then for the safety of returning to the Slytherin common room each night to the one person he could rely on to be there, and finally for the genuineness of it all. The different side of Severus Snape that had always existed, but he was the first to see. He didn’t know that Snape was capable of laughing until he told a joke about James’s concerning love for Quidditch (I swear, Sev, you’d think he was fucking the Quaffle, or something) and both of them had been in stitches, struggling to keep quiet for fear of waking the other Slytherins. 

What was most out of character, though, was that Snape… well…

“Pettigrew, I’ve got to tell you something.” He said quietly, out of nowhere, interrupting Peter’s rant about how stupid Quidditch is—he could never say anything around James, he’d have his head on a spike, and he’d made this very known to Snape. 

“Go on, then.” Peter said, slightly distracted. He glanced at the grand clock on the far wall of the common room and gasped. “Ooh, and hurry up, too. I’ve got to be back before five, that’s when James gets up for Quidditch.” He paused, suddenly disquieted by Snape’s anxious demeanor. 

Snape shuffled backward on the couch. 

“Just getting out of punching range.” He chuckled sadly and looked up at Peter. “Er— actually, maybe—” He shuffled close again. A bit too close for comfort. A bit closer than they’d been before. 

“Sev?”

“Shut up. Please.” He snapped, looking deeply uncomfortable. “Right, so…” He started to lean closer, Peter was terrified. What if he read the situation wrong? What if he obliged and leaned in too, what if he reciprocated every action, but Severus was doing something different? He was most definitely in punching range…

Peter’s thoughts were quelled by sudden pressure on his lips, his eyes were still very much open, he was completely shell-shocked because he wasn’t hallucinating. And Snape was very much right there. And they were kissing and it was nothing like he’d imagined, he’d thought it would be awkward and stone-still, and it was a bit like kissing a marble statue af first, but once the weight of what they were doing sunk in it became easy and familiar. It wasn’t necessarily life-changing, but it was good. It was familiar and nice. It only lasted a couple seconds, not thrilling or breathtaking like in the movies, but neither of them could subdue a stupid grin. 

“Yeah, I should go.” Peter mumbled, face red, still smiling, feet suddenly numb like he couldn’t get up and leave if he wanted to. Not that he wanted to. 

“Same time tonight, then?”

“You know it.” He agreed and finally stood and started walking away. He felt oddly lighthearted, because he’d never been seen like that before. By anyone. He’d never had someone smile at him like that, he’d never seen someone nervous to make a move before, he’d never been that close to someone for that reason. It was different and liberating. It wasn’t necessarily that he could see anything between him and Snape lasting long-term, but it was nice to be wanted for a little bit. 

It was a change. Odd but welcome.

**Author's Note:**

> CRINGE


End file.
